Coaching Practiced

12 The challenges of working with emotion in coaching

Peter Duffell & Carmelina Lawton-Smith

Abstract

The role of emotion in coaching has attracted significant recent debate and this article summarises three potential perspectives that coaches may be using in respect of emotion. It then goes on to highlight a number of potential issues that need further exploration. Firstly, defining emotion remains a complex area of debate and without a shared understanding with clients of what is meant by ‘emotion’, coaches may find it hard to work with effectively. Secondly, dealing with emotion in the coaching interaction often relies on the recounting and recalling of a previous event and is therefore subject to memory. The coach is working with the account of the event from memory, rather than the event itself. This has implications for the role of the coach in dealing with the subsequent client meaning making of emotional events. Lastly, the limitations of language may influence the coaching interaction when discussing emotions, leading to unhelpful consequences. Some suggestions are made to help inform coaching practice when working with emotion.

Keywords

emotion, coaching, memory, language.

Original publication details: Duffell, P., & Lawton-Smith, C. (2015, June). The challenges of working with emotion in coaching. The Coaching Psychologist, 11(1), 32–41. Reproduced with permission of The British Psychological Society.

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